Keep Your Eyes Straight Ahead

Every Believer who desires to go on with God will at some point experience the purging work that takes place during a difficult test or trial. However, it is important to understand that God does not send us tests and trials. Satan is the one who comes to devour through cares, worries, and fears. When the devil engages us in conflict and causes our weak places to be exposed, God expects us to use the power of His Word to weld those weak places with Truth and make them strong.

Difficult times bring things to surface to be purged from our lives so God can "establish, strengthen, and settle us". (I Peter 5:6-10) We may not understand sometimes why God lets us suffer through a trial for a time, but later we will see the fruit of His purging work in us.

God cannot pour out His glory on an unpurged people. He is constantly searching for a people to whom He can prove Himself strong. Those (unpurged) people will be unable to stand against the devil's attacks. God pours out His glory in a measure and that glory saturates our being. But the only part that makes it to productiveness is the part that is not eaten up by dead limbs that have not been pruned out of our lives. That is why it is so crucial that we continually yield ourselves to the purging work of the Holy Spirit - not just for our sake, but for the sake of a lost and dying world.

God desires to lead us out of a walk dominated by the flesh into a walk of maturity and sonship. This is His priority and it is our option. WE HAVE TO CHOOSE to accept the leadership of the Holy Spirit. WE HAVE TO CHOOSE to walk out of a life dominated by the flesh and into a life dominated by the Spirit. But be forewarned that distractions shall come, therefore...

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil (Proverbs 4:23-27 KJV)

Do not be like Peter when he was walking on water. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he stayed up on the water but as soon as he turned his eyes away and started looking at the storm (the circumstances), he began to sink.

If we are truly focused on the Lord and what He wants, all the "goings on" around us will have NO affect on us at all. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith!

Connie J. Schmoll